Wigton parish is
bounded on the east by the river Wampool flowing through north western Cumbria,
on the south by the parish of Westward, on the west by Bromfield parish, and on
the north by Kirkbride parish. It is intersected by the Wiza rivulet and several
small brooks, and contains a small lake, called Martin Tarn1, in which pike, perch,
and eels are taken. The parish is divided into four townships, viz. Wigton, Oulton,
Waverton, and Woodside. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.
In AD 1100 the first church at Wigton was built and endowed by Odard de Logis
who was Sheriff of Carlisle. During the early part of the 14th Century the Scots
raided into Cumberland and as a consequence the church was greatly damaged. The
parish, measuring more than 5 miles in length by 3 in breadth, contains, besides
the town of Wigton, the townships of Oulton, Waverton and Woodside, and the hamlets
of Akehead, Waterside, Lesson-hall, Wood-row, Howrigg, and East and West Woodside.
It is a station on the Maryport and Carlisle railway.
Wigton barony was
in existence before the Norman Conquest and in 1262 received its first market
charter. Wigton is a market town with mainly Georgian design buildings made of
red sandstone. It was burnt by the Scots in 1322, when they plundered the abbey
of Holme-Cultram, and during the civil war was occupied by the van of the Duke
of Hamilton's army in 1648. The common lands of Wigton, Waverton, and Woodside,
were enclosed in 1810, and of Oulton, in 1818. About a mile W. from Wigton is
a seminary called Brookfield Academy, belonging to the Society of Friends, removed
hither from High Moor, in 1826. The number of pupils is limited to 30 boys and
30 girls, from the age of 8 to 15 years. Children attending this school, from
any part of Cumberland, are taught partly at the expense of the society. The goods,
formerly manufactured here, consisted of Osnaburghs, tow-cloth, coarse linens,
striped checks, &c.; the latter of which, and also ginghams, originated with Messes.
John and Jacob Hodge, of this town; but natives of the Heights, in Westward parish.
About the yeare 1755, the former of these improved his mechanical knowledge by
travelling into Lancashire, where this branch was exclusively carried on.
Wigton
barony, which included Wigton, and the townships and manors of Waverton, Blencogo,
Dundraw, and Kirkbride, with their appurtenances, was an ancient demesne of Allerdale,
until Waldieve, son of earl Gospatrick, gave it to Odard de Logis, with whose
descendants it continued for five generations, till Margaret, the only issue of
Sir John de Wigton, carried it in marriage to Sir John Gernoun; but shortly after
her death it passed to Thomas Lucy, lord of Allerdale, about the reign of Edward
III; and in his right the seignority of Wigton was extinguished, and has since
been united to the ancient barony of Allerdale, of which general Wyndham is lord.
Aikton parish is about five miles in length, from N. to S. and two in breadth
from E. to W. is bounded on the N. by Bowness, on the S. by Thursby, on the E.
by Orton and Kirk Bampton parishes, and on the W. by the river Wampool. Aikton,
(villa quercum) is a corruption of Oaktown, and its manor was anciently the property
of the Morvills, who had a seate here. It subsequently belonged to the Colvills,
and the Radcliffes, and was afterwards sold by Sir John Savage, Knight, in the
reign of Henry VI to the lord Thomas Dacre, who reunited it to the ancient barony
of Burgh, from which it was "divided by the partition of Sir Hugh Morvill's daughter,
in the time of king John." It contains the four townships of Aikton, Biglands
and Gamblesby, Wampool, and Wiggonby. Aikton, is a small scattered village, pleasantly
situated on a gentle acclivity, four miles N. by E. of Wigton, and nine miles
W. by S. of Carlisle. The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, stands about a mile
E. from the village, and is a rectory in the patronage of the earl of Lonsdale,
and incumbency of the Revd. Samuel James Goodenough, M. A., who has for his curate
the Rev. John Wallace. Biglands and Gamblesby1, two small hamlets on the banks
of the Wampool, the former 3½ and the latter 3 miles N. of Wigton, and 1½ mile
W. and S.W. of Aikton, form a joint township, and anciently constituted a manor
of the barony of Burgh, which was granted to one Brewer, by one of the lords of
that barony. It was divided by female issue into moieties, one of which was sold
to the tenants, and the other was purchased by lord Dacre, by whom it was reunited
to the barony. The township, which also includes the small hamlet of Drunleaning2,
about one mile S. of Aikton, contains upwards of 1000 acres, rated at £722 18s.
10¾d. Biglands belongs chiefly to Messrs. John Barnes, Simeon Cowper, George Brown,
Joseph Hall, and Robert Matthews, the two latter being resident yeomen. Gamblesby,
or Gamelsby, is all the property of resident yeomen, except one farm, which belongs
to Mr. Jeremiah Smith, of Standing Stone; and Drunleaning is the property of Messrs.
Joseph Addison, and Jonathan Edgar, the latter of whom resides at Allonby.
| The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is
a neat edifice, which was erected in 1788, on the site of the ancient structure,
said to have been built by Odard, the first baron of Wigton, with materials brought
from the Roman station of Old Carlisle (mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum: Maglone
or Caer Guorthegirn), about 1½ mile distant, 14 Roman miles from VOREDA (Old Penrith)
and 13 miles from VERTERIS (Brough Castle). The Carvetii
tribe inhabited north-west England, occupying mainly the modern county of
Cumbria; Bravoniacum lay close to their south-eastern border. They were probably
stationed at CILVRNVM (Chesters, Northumberland) on Hadrian's
Wall sometime during the Hadrianic period, then apparently moved to LVGVVALIVM
(Carlisle, Cumbria) where they are attested immediately prior to their first known
presence here at Old Carlisle. The settlement of Olenacum grew up around it, but
was abandoned some time after the Romans left Britain in the early 5th Century. |  |
The lady Margaret de Wigton gave this church, with the advowson, to
the abbey of Holme Cultram, for the better support of that religious house, after
the devastations made by the Scotch in the 14th century a vicarial stipend of
26 marks of silver, to be paid yearly by the abbot and convent, with one messuage
and ten acres of arable land, in the village of Kirkland, and one acre in Wigton,
near the mansion house; and that they might find four chaplains, monks of their
own house, to perform divine service in the church of the abbey, and two secular
chaplains to officiate in a chauntry of the church of Wigton, for the soul of
the said Margaret and of her husband John Gernoun, and of her ancestors, the right
of collation to the vicarage being reserved to the bishop. After the dissolution,
queen Elizabeth, in the 30th yeare of her reign, granted out the corn tithes of
Wigton, Waverton, and Oulton; the rest of the rectorial rights, except tithes
of eggs, geese, and apples, were granted out in the reign of James I, to the Fletchers
of Hutton. The tithes of pigs and geese, the former belonging to the vicar of
Wigton, and the latter to Sir Wastel Brisco, are now in course of commutation.
The
ancient farmstead, called Raby Cote, was formerly the seate and property of the
Chambers, collateral relations of Robert Chambers, abbot of Holme Cultram (1507-1518).
The whole house appears to have been erected from the spoils of the monastic church.
The original inscription appears to have been commemorative of some donation or
grant made by the vicar of Burgh to the Abbey. There was formerly in this parish
Woodholme Wood, granted by Queen Elizabeth to the copyhold tenants of Abbey Holme,
for maintaining the sea-dyke near Skinburness.
The
hospital is incorporated by the name of the Governors and Sisters of the College
of Matrons, or Hospital of Christ, in Wigton. Widows of clergymen, in the diocese
of Carlisle, and in that part of Cumberland in the diocese of Chester, also those
of the parishes of Rothbury, in Northumberland, and Whickham, in the county of
Durham, are eligible to this charity. Wigton Poor Law union, for which a convenient
workhouse was erected in 1840, about half-a-mile from the town, comprises the
following 31 parishes and townships, viz, Aikton, Allhallows, Allonby and Westnewton,
Aspatria, Blencogo, Blennerhasset and Kirkland, Bolton High, Bolton Low, Bowness,
Bromfield, Caldbeck, Dundraw, Hayton and Melay, Holme Abbey, Holme East Waver,
Holme Low, Holme St. Cuthbert, Ireby High, Ireby Low, Kirkbampton, Kirkbride,
Langrigg and Mealrigg, Oulton, Sebergham, Torpenhow and Whitrigg, Uldale, Waverton,
Westward, Wigton, and Woodside. Allonby and Westnewton, Bolton Low, Bowness, Caldbeck,
Holme Abbey, Holme Low, Sebergham and Westward, elect two guardians; Wigton four;
and all the rest one each; besides whom there are four ex-officio guardians. ROTHBURY
parish is bounded on the north by Whittingham, on the west by Elsdon, on the south
by Hartburn, Nether-Witton, and Long Horsley, and on the east by Edlingham. The
Saxon warrior Hrotha is also better known in legend than by the scattered stones
which mark the first Rothbury. The great battle of Brunnaburg - fought between
Athelstan and Analf - is said to have taken place at nearby Brinkburn in AD 935.
The famous forest of Rothbury has long since disappeared, and widely scattered
farm-houses and cottages occupy its site. Rothbury lies near the centre of rural
Northumberland, 12 miles from Alnwick, 15 miles from Morpeth and 29 miles from
Newcastle upon Tyne. As such it has been a local centre since the 13th century
and at various times had a castle, a market and magistrate's court. The name 'Rothbury'
is variously derived from the Celtic word 'Rhath' meaning a cleared spot, or from
the Saxon warrior 'Hrotha' whose kingdom was hereabouts.
Woodside township lies on the south and east side of Wigton, and contains 1762
acres, rated at £3417 12s. 6d. belonging to Wm. Barnes, John Robinson, Miss
Matthews, Sir W. Brisco, W. B. Hodge, C. Henderson, and a few others. The hamlets
of Kirkland, 1 mile E.; Lownthwaite7 (High and Low), 1 mile S. by W.; and Moorthwaite,
2 miles E. of Wigton, are in this township; and High Moor House, the seate of
W. Banks, Esq., stands on a gentle eminence, commanding extensive prospects, about
half-a-mile S. of the parish church. This estate was purchased of Mrs. Campbell,
of London, by Mr. John Hodge, in 1817, who commenced the present mansion, which
was completed by his son, the late Mr. Joseph Hodge, who died in 1846.